The present invention relates to a device for collecting eggs in hen laying batteries.
In modern hen laying batteries egg collection and conveyor belts extend in front of the cages in which the hens are kept for automatic transportation of the eggs from the cages to a collection point. Since the cages are arranged in levels lying vertically above one another, the egg conveyor belts also lie essentially vertically above one another. It is therefore necessary to provide a collection mechanism which picks up the eggs at different levels. The mechanism then transports the eggs to a discharge conveyor, which generally extends at right angles to the lengthwise direction of the conveyor belts and which conveys the eggs to a central processing point.
Various devices are known for transferring the eggs from the egg conveyor belts lying above one another to the egg discharge belt, for example the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,051. This known device comprises an essentially vertically arranged endless egg conveyor which is guided over reversing mechanisms at the top and bottom side. The conveyor is provided with egg accommodation elements disposed abutting one after the other in the lengthwise direction of the conveyor and essentially U-shaped, viewed in the transverse direction of the conveyor, and open towards the outside, and extending over the width of the conveyor. One part of the conveyor moves up past the ends of the egg conveyor belts, so that the eggs brought in by the egg conveyor belts can be taken into the accommodation elements. The eggs taken into the accommodation elements are guided over the top reversing mechanism and conveyed downwards at the other side by the downward moving part of the egg conveyor. An egg discharge belt is arranged next to the downward moving part of the egg conveyor, and the eggs are transferred from the accommodation elements of the conveyor to the egg discharge belt by means of a special removal mechanism and are conveyed further by the egg discharge belt.
The disadvantage of the known device lies in the fact that eggs fed in by different egg conveyor belts can go into the same accommodation element of the egg conveyor. This can lead to the eggs being damaged due to the eggs knocking against each other in the accommodation element. This problem occurs particularly when the egg conveyor belts lie vertically above one another and the eggs brought in by these egg conveyor belts would arrive at virtually the same place in the accommodation element.